The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-06-02

uOW W brhOut lhNUIdOAo OAkOuAA-
stances. This Is the true lnwardness Of |
the whole m,tter. Teachers were not |
bound by courses Of study, exsf1inA-
tiOns or suDefin tendence, to anything 4
but an hOnt at, earnest attempt to de- |
Velop the minds oS children. We threw
away the Rubbish OF cram, per cents and |
going gu far, aud tried to make the |
mimi grow as the good Lord intended 1t |
TO grow, as nearly as we, by careful |
study, could find out the way" This Is |
what Col. Parker wrote few weeks ago |
and though gOOd deal has been writ |
ten on this subject, have never seen
anything that 80 briefly and yet so com
pletely cOmpassed the whole matter as
does this simple statement.
1t Is doubtful II the good Lord includ
ed In his intention the public or private
school, or the kindergarten. The teach
inG of nature seems to be that OF ell
places thu a me ia the one where ele-
mentary instruction should be carried
on, and any method of instruction which
a judiciOns mother would employ can
hardly fail to be good one. under
stand this to be the underlying thought
at Quincy. Language Is taught as the
child learns IL in an Intelligent home.
He there has the aid of correct example,
he has the advantage Of kindly Criti-
cisms, but he learns to talk chiefly by
talking, just as he learns to play or
swim by oft repeated practice. 30 writ
ten language is learned by the Childs
early attempts to write. Love is said to
be an apt teacher. She who is 10 sym
Dathytwith her pupils will accomplish
more than any other. This principle Is
recognized. Scripture characters are
very early introduced, and by the little
stories, all uHcOnsciOusly they are max
ing them proficient In composition, and
even In public speaking. This constant
practice cannO fail to produce extra
\ ordinary results Arithmetic is taught
In the same natural way that the child
with good mother learns Its first les
sons at home. He deals with c0ncre.e
objects, In elementary geography con-
| stant use Is made OF the nodded board
and the crayOn. Reading is taught In
the most approved modern methods
Besides the reading books there Ia q cir
culatiDg library Of various kinds Of
books by which all the schools are kept
constantly supplied with all the read
inc matter that could be desired.
School work is made unit, and above
all there is infused into the schools nat
| uralness and enthusiasm. There Is thus
an endeaV0r to exercise the largest kind
/ Of common sense. A love for reading
and study is better than the ability 10
cipher through hundred arithmetics."
ARE THESE NEW METHODIST
is the question l now wish to discuss.
| Superintendent Parker says they Gre
| not. The same methods have been used
/ for years In Germany and In this coun
| try. They claim nothing new, nothing
| finished, nothing that is not founded OF
we'll known and orthodox principles.
Mr.. Adams says the same thing, and
numerous educational journals make
like statements. Colonel Parker de-
I serves, however, more credit than he
seems ready to claim.
His putting In practice and illustra-
ting these methods show great capacity,
and has proved him worthy Of place In
the very highest rank Of American edu-
Gators.
Mr.. James then went on TO say that
as Colonel Parker had stated that his
work had only been q beginning of
what might be done, 80 In Ohio, though
1t wac undoubtedly In the advanced
ranks Of good common schools, yet 1t
could also make great improvement. He
hoped to see an improvement In the
CHOICE OF BOARDS OF EDUCATION,
so that they would approximate more to
the one chosen at Quincy, made up Of
the best men In the community, and
men who understood the position Of
their suDeRintendents. He spoke Of the
poorly qualified superintendent one
sometimes finds, and stated In illustra
/ tiOn:
A CLEVELAND GENTLEMAN,
once said to me: "I tried for many years
to serve this city faithfully as teacher,
and yet In my present position as a
member of the board, l believe am able
to do the city far more service than
ever could as teacher" He was cor
rect. he did for our schools the same
service that Mr.. Adams did al Quincy.
He said to the superintendent: 1--WE give
you free field to work In, and shall sup
port you vigorously, We only ask that
you show good results" And under
this management our schools made
great progress. II the cities and towns
OF this country were all blessed with
the right kind Of boards of education,
all the other good results wonld quickly
follow.
THE FUTURE SCHOOL.
Professor James then advised the |
delegating of larger powers to the su |
perintendents of our schools, claiming |
that the Vesting Of the entire control Of !
them, as In the case of the Quincy /
schools, was In accordance with correct |
business principles and the principles of |
common sense. He said that when this /
came the schools of our country would
rapidly advance, the moral and intelleo-
tual character OF the pupils would be
imprOv d, the practice of overcTOwding
the schools would disappear, and the
prevailing opinion that over forty or
fifty pupils were necessary for school
would be done away with. He thought
that at this time the schools would be
reduced to 0ne-hRlf or one third Of their
present size. Then we may expect no
more Of what is now so cOmm0n-teach-
ers worn out with over exertiOn. have
understood that by means Of the pupil.
teacher assistants In the Quincy shoots
the number of pupils to teacher has
been smaller than usual. But even
then the schools have been larger than
advisable When schools are taught I'M
der improved methods the text books
will meet the needs of the youthful
mind. The Rpparati will be perfect,
school houses will have all the improve
ments; there will then be flowers and
pictures Of statuary to educate by their
refining Influence; then there will he q
public opinion that will grudge no out
lay of money for the improvement of
school training. But the field stretches
away before me and Is bounded only by
the horizon. The Quincy method has
been to seize every advantage, adopt
every improvement. remove every obsta-